NEWPORT County AFC striker Rene Howe is thrilled to be back in the squad for today’s clash with Stevenage after staging a remarkable recovery from injury.

County initially feared Howe’s season was over when he ruptured a thigh muscle in training back in August.

But he’s surprised everyone by making a rapid return to fitness, capped with a goal from the penalty spot in Tuesday’s reserve match at Portsmouth.

The 28-year-old is set to be on the bench this afternoon and he’s relishing his first appearance at Rodney Parade since the opening day defeat to Wycombe Wanderers.

“It’s been a great run by the lads over the last few months and you always want to be involved when the team is doing well so I can’t wait,” said Howe.

“I’m hopeful that I’ll maybe get a ten-minute cameo appearance from the bench, which would be great.

“We’ve got a busy schedule over Christmas so hopefully I can play a part in that because we’ll need everyone fit.

“The pitch looks a lot better this season as well and I haven’t played on it since August so I can’t wait to get out there and help us keep this run going.”

Howe admits he struggled to stay positive as he contemplated a whole season on the sidelines and he was grateful for the distraction of looking after his son in the early stages.

“It’s been my first real serious injury and it’s felt like a long time,” he said Howe.

“I ruptured the tendon that goes across the thigh bone. It’s quite similar to what Jamie Stephens had last season but he did his in the muscle and mine was the tendon.

“It was pretty bleak back in August but I’ve held it together thanks to my family and I’ve done all the rehab so hopefully it won’t reoccur,” he added.

“I was on crutches at the start and I didn’t even come in for two weeks because I couldn’t do anything. I was just sat at home watching daytime TV.

“I’ve got a little boy so he got me up early and we watched his programmes as well so that kept my mind off it a little bit.

“After he went to nursery watching Jeremy Kyle every morning wasn’t much fun but then I started coming in and seeing the lads and that perked me up a bit.

“After about a month I was able to start doing fitness work again and I’ve just built up from there.”